Italian Wedding Soup with Veggie Balls

Italian wedding soup just like grandma used to make, but with eggplant-based veggie balls in place of the traditional meatballs! Comfort food at its best.

You’re probably not supposed to play favorites with your recipes. I think that’s actually the numero uno, cardinal rule of Food Blogging 101.

But youuuuu gggguuuuyyyyssss.

I just can’t help myself.

Growing up, Italian wedding soup with mini meatballs was the thing my grandmother used to make. I mean, she also made marinara sauce (or gravy, as she would call it), and lasagna, and big meaty roasts, but my brother and I wanted nothing to do with any of those things.

We only wanted the soup.

I think part of the allure stemmed from the fact that my mother was incapable of making it. The meatballs, particularly. She just didn’t have the magic touch.

Or my grandmother lied and gave her the wrong recipe (<–LIKELY). We will never know the truth.

I haven’t had it in years now (possibly decades), and when I set about to recreate it for the blog, I was worried.

Worried that I had built the soup up so much in my memories that nothing I made could compare.

Worried that my ancestors would return from the dead when they realized I was attempting to make a meat-free version of their mini meatballs.

Worried that I just wouldn’t be able to pull it off, and so would never be able to taste my grandmother’s soup again.

I really shouldn’t have worried so much.

This is hands down, above and beyond, the BEST THING I HAVE EVER MADE. And I don’t say that lightly.

The soup is full of so much flavor (I attribute it to the parmesan rinds, by the way), tons of nutrition, oodles of cheese-stuffed tortellini (always a good thing), and crispy delicious mini meatballs! And by meatballs, I mean eggplant-balls obviously, but that just sounds weird. It does take a bit of time to simmer away and suck as much flavor out of those veggies as possible, but all the best things in life are worth waiting for, don’t you think?

Italian wedding soup just like grandma used to make, but with eggplant-based veggie balls in place of the traditional meatballs! Comfort food at its best.

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

For the soup

1 medium onion, cut into chunks

1 small carrot, cut into chunks

4 clove garlic, peeled

2 oz fresh basil

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

3½ quarts cold water

1 head escarole, cut into ½-inch shreds

1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed and leaves cut into ½-inch shreds

1 lb zucchini, cut into ½-inch pieces

2 parmesan rinds

2 tbsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

1½ lb cheese tortellini

For the veggie balls

1 large eggplant, unpeeled

salt, to taste

1 cup + ⅓ cup panko breadcrumbs, divided

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp minced parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg, lightly beaten

extra virgin olive oil, for frying

Instructions

First, start the soup. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the onion, carrot, garlic, and basil. Pulse until it forms a smooth paste, called a pestata.

Heat the olive oil in the soup pot over high heat and scrape the pestata into the pot. Cook, stirring until the pestata has released liquid and started to dry out a bit, about 5 minutes. Pour the cold water into the pot, scraping up the pestata from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer the broth, covered, for about 15 minutes. Stir in the greens, zucchini, parmesan rinds, and salt. Return to a simmer and cook, covered, for 25 minutes, and uncovered for 20 minutes. Add the tortellini in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

While the soup simmers, prepare the veggie balls. Cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Bring 2 quarts of water with 1 tbsp of salt mixed in to a boil over high heat. Add the eggplant and boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes, or until eggplant is cooked, pressing them down into the water regularly. Drain in a colander and push out as much water from them as you can using the back of a spoon. Finely chop eggplant.

In a bowl, combine the eggplant, 1 cup of panko, cheese, parsley, and garlic. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Mix in the egg.

Roll the eggplant mixture into small balls that are about 1-inch in diameter and set them on a platter. Put the remaining panko in a small bowl and roll each ball in the breadcrumbs to coat evenly. Set the coated balls on a clean tray.

Pour the olive oil into a 10-inch skillet to a depth of ½ inch. Turn the heat to medium and when the oil begins to shimmer, put a test ball in the skillet. If it sizzles immediately, then the oil is hot enough. When the oil is ready, carefully put the balls in the skillet in a single layer.

Fry, turning gently with a spoon, until browned all over, about 3 minutes total. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat with the remaining balls until all of them have been cooked.

Divide the soup evenly among 8-10 bowls and serve topped with the veggie balls.

I look back at all the parm rinds I throw away before knowing what they were good for and cry a little — think of all the flavor I could’ve had in my life! Any soup with cheese, pasta, and meatless meatballs is a winner to me!

Woah, I can feel the goodness of this soup. You’ve sold me! I also have a lot of “fear” at the thought of trying to re-create special food that I remember well from childhood. I’m so glad this turned out so well for you. It looks sensational…I usually love the broth in a soup most but I am dying for those eggplant balls!

Okay. I’m going to have to make this soup right away. The veggie balls are genius and what really draws me in here. You see, I love Italian wedding soup, but most of the soups I’ve tried had meatballs that grossed me out and so I stopped eating it altogether. These veggie balls look so flavorful and… I can already tell Id make sure to sneak a few extra in my bowl. Pinning the heck out of this.

Grandma-inspired recipes are the best, and SO worth the time and dedication. I’ve never heard of eggplant “meatballs” before, but now I can’t get the idea out my head. Can’t wait to make this amazing soup!

BEST…THING…well that settles it, I’ve got to try it. This meatless meatballs like look little pieces of golden heaven and that soup is just screaming drink me now, and I don’t even like soup. De-lish, pinning to make (no, really) this weekend!

This looks fantastic! I’ve never made eggplant meatballs, but I’m excited to give them a try! We eat soup a few days a week every week so I’m happy for such a great recipe that doesn’t look too hard to make. (I’m tempted to bake the meatballs instead of frying them, though…) Thank you for sharing and I think your ancestors will be quite happy. 🙂

I am SO making this soup, Joanne. And I’m completely enamored with those eggplant based veggie balls. I bet they’d be great as an appetizer dipped in marinara or smothered in marinara served over pasta, or or or….Yum!!

Anything as good as grandma’s gets my vote. 🙂 This looks like it’s packed with flavor and things that are good for you. I buy little tubs of parmesan rinds from Wegmans- they’re good for flavoring so many things!

I didn’t grow up with Italian Wedding Soup – it’s not part of my heritage obviously – and I’ve never even tried it. I’ve seen it crop up many times all over the blogosphere, and heard people rave about it, but in all honestly the recipe is usually accompanied by some pretty “unappetising” looking photos, so it’s just never particularly appealed to me to give it a try. Until now!! Your version looks stunning with those little cheesy tortellini in it, and the little aubergine balls instead of meatballs is the absolute clincher for me. With aubergine season just getting into full swing here now, and evenings probably only a couple of weeks away from starting to get a little cooler, this is definitely on my list. I love you for sharing this xo

I found your blog from a comment you left on my blog figs and pigs I’m so glad you did cause now I found your lovely blog and this wonderful soup, it just looks amazing like a big hug in soup form and those veggie balls YUM.

This was nowhere in my family’s recipe repertoire, growing up so I’ll have to catch up on lost time 🙂 Great idea to use eggplant for the meatballs, so glad your experiment came out so well. Looking forward to making this!

These eggplant balls are the best thing I have eaten in a long while. Granted I reaaally love eggplant. I adapted this to be eggplant balls over tortellini with a simple marinara and it was epic.
THANK YOU for your genius.

Followed the recipe exactly and my family found the soup rather bland, there are simpler ways to get a more flavorful soup The veggie balls, however, were wonderful! Definitely going to make them again, though I may try roasting the eggplant instead of boiling it so as not to worry about pressing the water out after boiling.